Customer Reviews

The Graves of Academe

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This is by far one of the most important books written this century. It goes into detail about not only what is wrong with "education" in this country, but also what the causes are, and who is responsible. It is usually quoted in contemporary books on American education (e.g., _Dumbing Down Our Kids_ by Charles J. Sykes) because it is, simply, just that good. I first came across this book in a college library; someone had begun to underline all the sentences in which Mitchell made a good point, and had to stop, because they were underlining virtually every word. Not only is the content a wondrous gift, but the style brilliantly exemplifies economy, biting wit, and a high level of information density. If only all books were this good!

There is almost nothing so valuable as a book that shows that the emperor is wearing no clothes. In The Graves of Academe, Professor Richard Mitchell performs that feat. His emperor is the American education establishment which incessantly struts and proclaims its importance and dedication to the welfare of children. Mitchell, however, shows it to be a pompous fraud that miseducates children while consuming ever more tax dollars. As college professors will attest and international tests show, American kids are less and less able to do academic work. Mitchell explains why: We have adopted a mandatory system of teacher training that fills the heads of prospective teachers with faddish educational theories but leaves them clueless about actual subjects. Mitchell writes with wit, verve, and unconcealed contempt for the education "professionals" whom he indicts for dumbing down millions of American children. If you'd like to know why so many young people can't make change for a dollar or struggle to read the comics, this is the book for you.

If you want to know why Johnny not only can't read but also can't think or can't care for anyone but himself, this book will tell you. Richard Mitchell gives us an insiders view of why it is more important to the schools that our children have condoms and know when to use them than that they be able think clearly enough to understand political double-speak and vote intelligently.

If you are looking for answers for the entire system, you won't find them here. Mitchell knows all too well that there is absolutely no hope for reform. Although his last line does indicate that he hoped things would change, that line was written nearly 20 years ago and things have only gotten worse.

Your child's only hope is for you to read this book and become interested in helping him learn to think for himself.

Read Mitchell's books, by all means, but avoid this Kessinger edition. The force and beauty of Mitchell's prose here is utterly obscured by page after page of ugly, ugly typesetting. Most jarring are the consistent use of primes and backward apostrophes for quotation marks, and the use of boldface instead of italics. Almost every sentence is marred by one or both of these typographic indignities. The printer makes no distinction between a hyphen and an em dash, and the primitive typesetting program justifies lines by inserting extra space within words, instead of between them, leading to weirdly stretched-out lines of text.

Readers of Mitchell's work -- people who pay attention to our language and the way it is used -- will find this edition unreadable.

If you are a teacher grinding your teeth over the institutionalized stupidity that daily prevents you from doing your job, read this book. If you think your children are not as smart as they should be, read this book. Mitchell exposes your worst fears about American schooling, but he also provides intellectual ammunition for fighting against the system. He brilliantly articulates the connections among reading, writing, and thinking skills; this book will make you a smarter crusader for sensible public education. Too bad it's been relegated to Kissinger status - the yellow kiss of death. Don't let the hideous packaging deter you: this book is as relevant today as it was in 1981.

Dear Reader,
Recently on a local talk radio show (KRFE) the guest was an ER physician and the topic turned to obesity in the USA. He said something wonderful that made me sit up and listen. He said that obesity in America was evidence for good marketing. He didn't mention genes or thyroid hormones, he hit the nail on the head. Dr. Zimbardo would be proud, Chomsky would nod and Mitchell did write with clarity:

"It is possible, of course, to keep educated people unfree in a state of civilization, but it's much easier to keep ignorant people unfree in a state of civilization. And it is easiest of all if you can convince the ignorant that they are educated, for you can thus make them collaborators in your disposition of their liberty and property. That is the institutionally assigned task, for all that it may be invisible to those who perform it, of American public education.
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Of this book the Fresno Bee said "...required reading for every parent..." IF I was Bezos, I'd pair this book up with Esquith's: Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire.

And of the apparatchik, Mitchell sums up:
"... a superintendent is not an individual mind but rather a functionary of a collective ideology. It is not his function to know, understand, and judge, but only to function appropriately according to his place in the apparatus." What was I thinking, that they cared about the PTA????

This is great stuff and the education I'm getting to help my child learn is fantastic.... now to cure cognitive dissonance!!! To sum up this review I would like to say that I now view learning to be the consideration of ideas I don't normally agree with, and in their due consideration, blend and mend my own thinking. As Richard says: "Education arises when one mind ponders the work of another."
I'd appreciate all help towards those goals. Connect at [...]
Sincerely,
Mark
Texas